The Island

Type: Links
Par: 71
Location: Dublin

This beautiful links course, in splendid isolation, is surrounded by the Irish Sea, Donabate Beach and Broadmeadow Estuary. Nestling between the highest sand dunes of any links course in Ireland, it's rugged beauty cannot fail to impress. For sheer awe -inspired by 25 foot-high dunes, vaguely lunar crevasses running through terrain and challenging greens - the best choice is the The Island Golf Club. It was ranked number 26 in Golf World's Top 100 "must play" courses in the world.

The Island Golf Club, to put it quite simply, is one of the finest links golf courses in the world. The course will tempt, satisfy and infuriate but at the end of the round you will be well aware that you have just played a very special golf course. It is that good. Having played in the Irish PGA Championship at The Island in 1999, Darren Clark proclaimed the course "a fantastic links which tests every club in the bag". This is no understatement.

The links itself requires excellent shot making skills and offers countless superb holes, incorporating some great natural dunes. One of the most memorable holes at The Island includes the par 3 13th, which requires a 210 yard stroke across the Broadmeadow Estuary back to the mainland. This is a treasured hole, which if played when the wind is whipping up the cliff face from the sea, will certainly make a lasting impression.